1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to workflow automation, and more specifically to a workflow automation system and method that includes a secure online web-based system that efficiently automates any office workflow.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the decrease in the price of computer hardware, businesses all round the world are tending to adopt automation of business workflow and avoiding primitive paper based systems. This is due to the apparent advantages like security, alacrity, enhanced management etc. over the paper-based system. Since business workflows are of different types, complexity and nature, a need for a customizable engine is observed that can come up with automation of any workflow. Although, the proposed workflow automation system is not a complete solution but rather to some extent, it can produce automation of any office or business workflow quite easily.
A workflow is simply an ordered series of tasks that accomplish some defined purpose according to a set of rules. There are different types of workflow with respect to the task order. In some workflows, all of the tasks are assigned to roles one after the other, i.e., in a sequential manner. Other workflows have some tasks in parallel and others sequential. Some workflows handle the series of tasks in a forward-only manner, while others handle tasks in a back and forth manner. Hence, different workflow schemes have different complexities and rules.
There have been a number of efforts to automate workflows for the last two decades. The automated workflow systems keep changing with the change in the requirements and environment in the offices.
One of the early approaches for developing automation of workflow is Document Management System (DMS). DMS is a computer system (or set of computer programs) used to track and store electronic documents and/or images of paper. Initially, it was used only for storing and managing paper documents and was typically known for storage of scanned documents and images in electronic form on a server. However, DMS has matured from a basic archival and retrieval system to a complete information management solution. It is now used for making work flow. While DMS has kept on improving continuously over time, flexibility in making complex workflow schemes remains limited. Moreover, DMS is incapable of making complex forms and hiding chunks of information from specified roles (e.g., hiding names of members of a certain committee in a document). Additionally, attempts at workflow automation have not provided a complete general solution, which is needed.
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) has been suggested for a complete general solution for entire business process automation. However, ERP is high in cost, not especially suitable for small businesses, and limited in ERP software customization.
Thus, a workflow automation system and method solving the aforementioned problems is desired.